November 6 Update: Marriott Rewards MORE shutting down on November 15, Aeroplan Park'N Fly bonus and more

Marriott Rewards will be shutting down their online shopping portal. Not good news for those of you who wanted to collect some more Marriott Rewards points for the Christmas shopping season! Called Marriott Rewards MORE and only launched over a year ago the portal failed to gain traction and never really added any new stores to compete with the big online shopping portals we see from programs like Aeroplan, AIR MILES, United, Alaska and more. (Source Doctor of Credit)

Posts since our last update:

• Save up to 50% on Economy and Business Class award tickets between Montreal or Toronto and Europe
  As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" or Mileage Bargain discounted…
• Up to a 50% Bonus when you buy Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles until December 21!
  Alaska Airlines has brought back their best bonus for buying Mileage Plan miles! Right now you will get up…
• Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa
  Hilton has launched the latest weekend sale where you can save up to 25% on stays in Europe, The…
• Hilton Honors: Up to a 100% Bonus when you buy 10,000 or more points until December 18
  Hilton Honors has released their latest buy points promotion for their members. It appears there are two levels of bonus…

Travel Deals
Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!


Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 250 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when parking your car for 4 or more days at participating Park’N Fly locations across Canada. More... Until Dec 21, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Receive up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. More... Until Dec 21, 18

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 500 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles for stays at Mercure, Novotel and Suite Novotel Worldwide. More... Book by Dec 29 for stays until Jan 9, 19

Best Western Rewards
- Redeem only 10,000 Rewards Points (or less) for a FREE night. at Best Western branded hotels in the U.S. or Canada, Sunday through Thursday only. More... Nov 15 - Jan 15, 19

Hilton Honors
- Up to a 100% Bonus when you buy 10,000 or more Hilton Honors points online. More... Until Dec 18, 18

IHG Rewards Club
- 10,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Kimpton Fitzroy London More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Mar 31, 19

La Quinta Returns
- Up to a 25% discount when you buy La Quinta Returns points. More... Until Dec 3, 18


Follow Rewards Canada:

Save up to 50% on Economy and Business Class award tickets between Montreal or Toronto and Europe

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" or Mileage Bargain discounted mileage awards. This month we see offers from Lufthansa for departures from Montreal and with Austrian out of Toronto. 

Montreal
Lufthansa Economy and Business Class
Book by December 2 for travel between March 1 and April  15



Toronto
Austrian Airlines Business Class
Book by December 2 for travel between November 2 and December 31

With this offer you can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip business class tickets on Lufthansa from Montreal to 68 destinations for only 55,000 miles and on Austrian from Toronto to 6 cities in Austria also for only 55,000 miles. This is nearly a 50% discount off the normal award ticket price of 105,000 miles. Remember however Miles & More charges some major fees for redeeming miles on these flights so be sure you also check what a revenue ticket costs however remember this is for business class so even several hundreds of dollars in fees along with 55,000 miles could be the savings you are looking for.

Here are just some of the Business Class offers this month:

You can also choose to redeem 30,000 miles for round-trip Economy Class flights out of Montreal to 74 destinations in Europe. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles.

Here is an example of some of them:

Short on Miles & More miles? Your best bet is to convert Marriott Rewards points to Miles & More on a 3:1 basis plus you'll earn 5,000 bonus miles when you convert 60,000 points at a time. That means 75,000 points is all it would take to get one of these tickets if you don't have any Miles & More miles to your name.

If you don't have any Marriott Rewards Points you can get close to amount required to redeem for the tickets by grabbing some credit cards! How so? As we always mention in this post you can boost your Miles & More account with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to top off your account. Currently the card comes with a 50,000 point sign up bonus when you spend $1,500 on the card and then you could also grab The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express as it also has 50,000 point sign up bonus and then you would ultimately be able to have 100,000 points not including what is earned on spending. Of course timing of getting the card(s) now, spending and getting the points will likely not happen for this month but it sets you up for future offers.  Need to grab two tickets for an itinerary? You could choose to get one SPG card for yourself and one for your partner or spouse.

Click here Full details on this Miles & More offer 

Up to a 50% Bonus when you buy Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles until December 21!

Alaska Airlines has brought back their best bonus for buying Mileage Plan miles! Right now you will get up to a 50% bonus when you buy 40,000 or more miles. A perfect Christmas present for yourself or a loved one! The offer depends on the member as some are getting 40% as a maximum however we received 50%.

Seeing that you can redeem miles for premium class flights on British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Hainan, Korean Air and more, there are lots of options for you to use these miles. Remember it only takes 70,000 Mileage Plan miles to fly Cathay Pacific First Class from North America to Asia and that flight alone will cost a lot more than $1,773.75!

Remember there is no maximum limit on miles you can buy - it strictly limited to 60,000 miles per transaction so you can make multiple purchases if you like.

Offer details
Receive up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. Buy miles here Until Dec 21, 18
The bonus offer varies per member and ranges from 40% to 50% as the maximum bonus. Here is an example of the tiered 50% bonus:

• Buy 10,000 – 19,000 miles and get a 20% bonus
• Buy 20,000 – 39,000 miles and get a 35% bonus
• Buy 40,000 – 60,000 miles and get a 50% bonus 

Find many more Mileage Plan bonus miles offers here

Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Hilton has launched the latest weekend sale where you can save up to 25% on stays in Europe, The Middle East and Africa!

Make the festive season one to remember with the Hilton Sale and save up to 25% off breaks across Europe, The Middle East and Africa. For the best savings, simply join Hilton Honors for free while you book. Need some inspiration? Take a look below at some of our fantastic locations on offer to create your perfect break.

Stays must be booked by January 31, 2019 and completed on weekends until May 29, 2019. Remember that you should also be earning up to Triple Points on these stays with the current fall Hilton Honors promotion that runs until January 3. Find that and all other Honors bonuses here.

Discounts are up to 15% off the Best Available Rate and Best Available Bed & Breakfast Rate and vary by property. The Winter Sale Hilton Honors member rates are an additional 10% off of the Best Available Rate and the Best Available Bed and Breakfast Rate.

Click here to take advantage of the Hilton Winter sale 

For purposes of this offer, "weekend" is defined as Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday nights and in Middle East (excluding Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Africa) as Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday nights. Must book a minimum 3 days before arrival.

Full prepayment is required at time of booking. Your credit card will be charged immediately for the total amount quoted for the entire stay as reserved. Rates are not refundable; in case your contract with Hilton is governed by German law a refund of 10%, of the paid rates applies upon cancellation. In such case you may however prove that no or a significantly lower damage has been incurred for Hilton. Charges cannot be applied to other stays, services or merchandise. Booking cannot be changed.

Hilton Honors: Up to a 100% Bonus when you buy 10,000 or more points until December 18

Hilton Honors has released their latest buy points promotion for their members. It appears there are two levels of bonus being sent out to members which means you should be targeted for one or the other. We on the unfortunate hand got the lower of the two at 80% while others are getting a 100$ bonus offer.  Still both can be valuable seeing that it is not hard to pull off a value 0.8 cents per point for redeeming for an award night.

Depending on which bonus you get here is what you will be paying per Honors point:
80% bonus = US$ 0.56 cents per point
100% bonus = US$ 0.50 cents per point

Remember reward nights start out at only 5,000 points so you could essentially get 4 nights at the lowest level by only buying 10,000 points (+10,000 bonus) for only US$100.

Offer details: 
Up to a 100% Bonus when you buy 10,000 or more Hilton Honors points online. Buy points here Until Dec 18, 18


Here is an example of where buying points can be worth it:

As you can see the Hilton Vancouver Airport is asking 40,000 points or C$445 for a night. When you buy 40,000 points with the 100% bonus it will cost you US$200 or about C$265. That would provide a $180 savings for stays at this hotel on that particular day if you needed to stay there.

Click here to find many more Honors Points bonuses!

November 5 Update: Lululemon and Viator added to Aeroplan eStore, American AAdvantage program updates, IHG Annual Sale

Aeroplan has added two new partners via their eStore online shopping portal. LuluLemon has now been added and to celebrate this partner you can earn 4x Aeroplan miles until November 11. The other partner is Viator which you can use to book city passes and tours, day trips, theme park and show tickets, adventures and family-friendly activities. Viator purchases will earn 5x miles until November 18!

 

American AAdvantage is increasing the spend requirement to reach Executive Platinum status during 2019. "The Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD) requirement for AAdvantage® Executive Platinum status is increasing from $12,000 EQDs to $15,000 EQDs for the 2020 membership year." There are also changes to mileage earning on American's joint venture partner airlines and a reduction in elite qualifying mileage earning on Full Fare Economy class tickets on American. (Souce One Mile at a Time)

WOW Air, the low cost Transatlantic airline out of Iceland that flies to Montreal and Toronto (and is slated to serve Vancouver) is set to be bought by Icelandair. If approved Icelandair would take over the airline but still run it separatly from Icelandair. Chances are then we would see one or the other flying to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver since all three are currently served by both airlines. (Source USA Today)

Air Canada is changing their flights to Chile and Argentina flights back to a one plane service rather than two planes. As of April 2019 the flight will route Toronto-Santiago-Buenos Aires like it did a few years ago. (Source Routesonline)

 It's the season of giving! Help support Rewards Canada's Flight Here campaign for Give A Mile. Help us reach 100,000 miles to provide up to 4 flights of compassion. Find out more here!

Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for November - up to $1,500 in travel rewards with these cards
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of November! This is not…
• On this week's Podcast - Interviews with CIBC on the Aventura Visa card enhancements, delving into the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and a loyalty lesson learned
  Episode 47 - November 5, 2018 -- Interviews with CIBC on the Aventura Visa card enhancements, delving into the…
• 30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points until December 3 - Marriott/SPG included this time!
  We see the return of yet another Aeroplan conversion bonus! Last seen in August, the hotel only transfer bonus…
• Aer Lingus AerClub - Up to a 45% bonus when you buy Avios until November 11
   This purchase bonus is being advertised on Aer Lingus' AerClub site but is essentially buying Avios for the Avios.com portion…
• Give A Mile 2018 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign - donate miles today to help reach 50 flights of compassion
  Rewards Canada's charity partner Give A Mile has launched their annual Flight Hero Christmas Campaign. We have covered Give…
• 30% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back until December 31
  Many of you have been asking when this bonus would return as you took advantage of that great RBC Avion…
• Great new sign up offer of up to 800 AIR MILES for No Fee BMO AIR MILES Mastercards
  As of today the entire suite of no fee BMO AIR MILES Mastercard cards will come with a limited time…

Travel Deals
IHG has launched their annual sale! Save at least 20% at participating hotels in the U.S.! Book by January 7 for stays until March 31. Book online here

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!


Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles. More... Until Dec 3, 18

British Airways Executive Club
- 30% Bonus Avios when RBC Avion Cardholders transfer their RBC Rewards points to British Airways Executive Club. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Aer Lingus AerClub
- Earn up to 45% Bonus Avios when you buy or gift Avios.  More... Until Nov 11, 18

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- November Promo Rewards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by Nov 30 for travel Jan 1 - Feb 28, 19

British Airways Executive Club
- Triple Avios for stays at participating Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 18


Follow Rewards Canada:

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for November - up to $1,500 in travel rewards with these cards

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of November! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition (sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the just sign up bonus, but when most or all of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards.  This month all five cards have no annual fee in the first year so you can try them out at no cost and decide later on if the card is right for you.

This month sees the return of the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and RBC Visa Infinite Avion first year free offers so they have come back to the list. This knocked the BMO Rewards Mastercard (No fee) off the list as well as the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. Of note as well is a new offer on the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card which sees a new sign up bonus of 20,000 points instead of 15,000 + $100 credit

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for November  (in alphabetical order)

BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard - 3,000 Miles  (Apply here)
The best ever sign up bonus for an AIR MILES co-branded card makes it back to our Top 5 sign up list thanks to its 3,000 miles sign up bonus (worth ~$300 or more) and no annual fee in the first year! Add in a free companion fare when you redeem for flights and the value jumps even higher. Even if you aren't a fan of AIR MILES the fact you can get 3,000 miles and them use them as cash rewards for no cost to you should be enough to go out and get this card. Please note: new Collectors have Miles automatically deposited into their Dream Account, not their Cash account.

BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard - 35,000 Points  (Apply here)

Revamped on January 15th with a reward program that is less rewarding on your day to day spend the card still returns to this list thanks to its sign bonus and first year free offer. The card offers a 35,000 point sign up bonus that is worth $250 in travel and since the card is first year free right now (they bill you $150 and then rebate after several months) that means your $250 in travel is free and yes you even get the LoungeKey access and 4 lounge passes included in that first year free. 

CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite - 20,000 Points (Apply Here)
The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card see the return of their 20,000 Aventura Points sign up bonus worth up to $400 in travel depending on what type of flight you redeem for and since the annual fee of $120 (and supplementary cards are waived as well) is waived those 20,000 points come at no cost to you.

HSBC World Elite Mastercard - 75,000 points (Apply here)
Only gone of our list for one month this card returns with an even better sign up offer than before. Up to 75,000 points can be had as long as you can meet to somewhat steep spending requirement. That being said there's no annual fee in the first year and the card has a lot of other good benefits like no foreign transaction fees!  Those 75,000 points are worth $375 in travel rewards but those points can also be converted to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. 

RBC Visa Infinite Avion Card - 20,000 Points (Apply here)
Back on the list after the last offer ended in July.  Sure before it was 25,000 points but this new offer is still very good. Now it's 15,000 points + 5,000 more when you spend $1,000 in three months with no annual fee in the first year. Still a great offer even with the spend requirement and it still means you can get 20,000 RBC Rewards points at literally no cost to use towards flights via the RBC airline redemption program or convert to other programs like WestJet (it's 200 WestJet dollars!), British Airways or Cathay Pacific.

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with nearly $1,500 in travel credits but even if you only take on one or two you are helping your travel budget significantly at no cost other than regular credit card spend

On this week's Podcast - Interviews with CIBC on the Aventura Visa card enhancements, delving into the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and a loyalty lesson learned

Episode 47 - November 5, 2018 -- Interviews with CIBC on the Aventura Visa card enhancements, delving into the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and a loyalty lesson learned!

Rewards Canada's Jeff Fredericks had the pleasure of attending a special CIBC event that celebrated the five new enhancements to the CIBC Aventura Visa cards and Jeff was able to conduct several interviews with CIBC about them! Also we look into the relatively new HSBC World Elite Mastercard and how the bank is now targeting the entire Canadian credit card market. Finally we look at our first Loyalty Lesson Learned feature and learn why you should always be looking at using loyalty programs.

Click Here to download the podcast

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Links relating to this week's topic:

• CIBC Aventura Card enhancements coming on October 15 - Priority Pass with lounge visits, NEXUS credit and more
  CIBC has been a bank that has kind of sat on its laurels over the past few years with…
• HSBC World Elite Mastercard Review
  As part of WestJet's global strategy which included the unveiling of their 787 routes today, they have also announced…
• Loyalty Lesson Learned - Don't brush off reward programs
  We welcome guest contributor, Matthew Couto - a Millennial traveller who left his desk job to travel the world.…

30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points until December 3 - Marriott/SPG included this time!

We see the return of yet another Aeroplan conversion bonus! Last seen in August, the hotel only transfer bonus is back and once again it is a 30% bonus. You have the make sure that you transfer enough hotel points to earn 5,000 Aeroplan Miles to get the 30% bonus. You'll have until December 3 to make any transfers and the 5,000 miles can be cumulative from multiple hotel programs - this is a good way to use up some of those orphaned hotel points you may never use if you are a frequent Aeroplan redeemer.  The great news for the winter version of this bonus is the return of Marriott/Starwood/Ritz-Carlton to the mix of partners that count.  Marriott (and its subsidiaries) have the best transfer ratio to airline programs at a rate of 3 Marriott Rewards points to 1 airline mile but they also add in 5,000 more miles when you convert 60,000 points at a time. That means with this promotion 60,000 points transferred to Aeroplan will net you 32,500 miles (20,000 miles at 3:1 + 5,000 miles from Marriott + 30% bonus). The easiest way to earn Marriott points in Canada outside of actual hotel stays is with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express which at the time of this post is offering 50,000 points as a welcome bonus. Now chances are you won't have the points post in time for this iteration of the Aeroplan transfer bonus but you can start banking on the Spring bonus (and it gives you time to reach 60,000 points so you can get that extra little bonus). This is also a good time to convert points from something like the Cobalt Card to Marriott to Aeroplan!

Most of Aeroplan's hotel partners are participating in the promotion so you can convert from any of the following to add to your final tally.

Offer details
30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles.  Click here for full details Until Dec 3, 18

Hotel partner loyalty programs eligible for this promotion are: Marriott/Starwood/Ritz-Carlton, IHG Rewards Club, Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Coast Rewards, Radisson Rewards, Hilton Honors, Le Club Accorhotels (Accor hotels), Golden Circle Award (Shangri‑La), Wyndham Rewards.

The total amount of miles received from the conversion of hotel loyalty program points into Aeroplan miles must be greater than or equal to 5,000 Aeroplan Miles in order to be eligible to receive the 30% bonus.

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here

Aer Lingus AerClub - Up to a 45% bonus when you buy Avios until November 11

 This purchase bonus is being advertised on Aer Lingus' AerClub site but is essentially buying Avios for the Avios.com portion of the program which is where you go to redeem for Aer Lingus. You can always buy these and transfer to British Airways or Iberia. For this promotion they have also doubled the amount of Avios you can buy from 100,000 to 200,000. At the 100,000 level it costs 1,800 EUR which with the bonus you'll be buying Avios for 1.20 EUR apiece. 145,000 Avios is enough for 7 round trip flights in Economy class on Aer Lingus between Montreal and Dublin during the off-peak season.

Offer details
Earn up to 45% Bonus Avios when you buy or gift Avios.  Buy and gift Avios here.  Until Nov 11, 18

You Buy	Your Bonus
1,000 - 15,000 Avios	20% bonus
20,000 - 35,000 Avios	30% bonus
40,000 - 90,000 Avios	35% bonus
100,000 - 200,000 Avios	45% bonus